Wednesday, 21 March 2018

Colonel Gaddafi’s son eyes Libyan presidency

Mr. Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, second son of ex-Libyan leader late Muammar Gaddafi, is set to launch his election bid for presidency.Politically fragmented Libya goes to the polls later this year to get a leader that would unify the country.Local media reports say Saif who had been detained by a militia in Libya until his release last year, will be joining the race to be the strife-torn country,Saif who is reportedly inside Libya since his release will in a matter of days appear on television to pitch his presidential ambition before voters.Saif’s manifesto is reportedly revolving around a clarion call for administrative reforms, national reconciliation and the building of a modern state.It is not known what Libyans made of his alleged presidential ambitionsThe 45-year-old who was never part of his father’s administration had an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court over his head over his alleged role in the bloody persecution of political opponents.

He was widely regarded as a potential successor to his father, a theory which he had severally attempted to debunk.With Libya still blighted by a deadly civil war shortly after his father was killed, Saif was captured in the south of the country by militiamen originating from Zintan.While being held in Zintan, he was sentenced to death four years later by a Tripoli court in a trial in absentia.He was released from custody in June 2017, and continues to live in Libya, although his exact whereabouts remain unknown.Since the overthrow of his father in an armed uprising in 2011, Libya has been caught up in a struggle for control by two rival governments based in Tripoli and Benghazi.A UN-funded election is expected to take place toward the end of 2018.Confirming its involvement in January, the UN said it was encouraged by number of Libyans who had registered to vote in what would be the country’s first Western-style democratic election in decades.